Join us on Nov. 11th for PHX Pheast, as we celebrate local farmers and the amazing food that they provide us.

Phoenix Public Market is bringing PHX Pheast to downtown Phoenix. Together, we celebrate the farmers who make a market like ours possible and enjoy an evening of food, music, and community held in the heart of Phoenix.

Attracting diverse visitors from around the valley, this celebration of neighborhood chefs and restaurants, utilizing fresh ingredients from Arizona’s best farmers and producers, will be a highlight of the fall season.  Between bites, guests can sip a special PHX PHEAST cocktail, wine and beer while enjoying live entertainment from local musicians, and more. PHX PHEAST is a true farm-to-fork experience and a reflection of the finest food from the best farmer’s market in the Valley.  We hope you will join us in support of Arizona farmers.

You can get a ticket here. Prices range from $5 for a drink to $75 for a meal and two drinks.

Individual Ticket, Includes all food bites, entertainment from Tatiana Crespo and 2 drink tickets. They’ll have a variety of 10 chefs paired up with 10 farmers, each creating a different dish for patrons to enjoy as you move from booth to booth. Between bites you can enjoy local beer, wine and a craft cocktail or non-alcoholic beverages. Additional alcohol tickets may be purchased at the event, as well as online.

PHX Pheast is a fundraiser for Phoenix Public Market, a program of Community Food Connections (CFC), a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. CFC creates a downtown community-gathering place by supporting small farmers and businesses that strengthen sustainable food systems and produce healthy products for the local community.

Location: Outdoor dining experience, 721 N Central Avenue

Desert dwellers know what a precious resource water is. But do you know where our water comes from and how it gets to your tap? Find out by joining our friends at Local First Arizona on a bike cruise along the Arizona Canal.

We’ll pedal from Old Town Scottsdale to OHSO Brewery with Valley water experts filling us in on everything you’ve always wondered about our water system. Along the way, we’ll hear from the following:

• Learn about the canal system from Jim Duncan, Salt River Project Engineer. We’ll stop at the scenic Arizona Falls, the oldest hydro-electric generation site in Phoenix, where we will learn how the Falls combines art, history and technology to generate clean electricity from the canal’s waterfall.
• Water – Use It Wisely will share information about water conservation in the desert and easy steps we can all take to be more water aware.
• Watershed Management Group will share information on rainwater harvesting and how you can create landscape features that preserve our watershed.
• OHSO Brewery will be sharing their beer made with Sinagua Malt, a water conserving malt grown in the Verde Valley and talking about water in the beer making process.

The bike ride is approximately seven miles roundtrip.

Date: December 1st
Time: 9 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Cost: Free to attend! Food, drink and bike rental are not included and will be purchased separately. There are several bike rental options in Old Town Scottsdale.
Meeting location: South Bridge along Arizona Canal & Marshall Way, 4420 N Scottsdale Rd, Scottsdale, AZ 85251
Need to rent a bike? Please scroll down for bike rental options.
Questions: Jake@localfirstaz.com
NOTE: This event has limited space and is expected to fill up so RSVP is required!

Donna Reiner, a local historian and a good friend of Get Your PHX, has written many articles over the years for the Arizona Republic and others about what came before us. We use her services when we list properties of historic significance to help us tell the stories behind the homes.

We are happy that Donna is allowing us to re-publish some of her articles on a monthly basis. If you or your business ever needs a historian, let Donna know at laydeescholar@hotmail.com.

Former First National Bank #

Phoenix began its speedy sprawl across the desert following World War II. Commercial enterprises, including banks, often accompanied the residential developments. These bank branches left a remarkable legacy of modern commercial architecture.

Major financial institutions such as Valley National Bank, First National Bank, Arizona Bank, Western Savings, and First Federal Savings, sought architects who would create distinctive buildings for their branches. Bold architectural designs in conjunction with new materials created some of the Valley’s most iconic buildings.

Most branch banks built during this period were freestanding, one-story, flat-roofed buildings located on busy street corners for easy auto access. Some included commissioned art work, an open interior, color on the walls, coordinated furniture and carpeting, and lots of natural light. Banks were, indeed, beautiful inside and out, and attracted the newest customer, the housewife.

Several of these mid-century modern branch banks were especially memorable, like the Valley National Bank “mushroom” branch at 44th Street and Camelback Road. Now a Chase Bank branch, security guards are used to people taking photos of the exterior.  Although no pictures are allowed inside, it’s worthwhile to venture in.

The extant, custom designed bank buildings in Phoenix are indeed stunning.  While many of these buildings continue to serve as banks, some have new lives as restaurants, offices, and stores. Two of the better known former banks, now restaurants, are The Vig at 6015 N. 16^th Street and Federal Pizza at 5210 N. Central Avenue.

Unfortunately, recognition of the importance and subsequent preservation of these mid-century banks in Phoenix has been problematic.  Some owners have painted what have always been white buildings nondescript shades of brown. The result is now they look like their neighbors rather than distinctively standing out from all the rest on the strength of their whiteness. Others have been boarded up for years, waiting patiently for visionaries to find a new use for them.

We hope you search out and enjoy our remaining mid-century modern branch banks which stand as a monument to when unique design was important to the business.

Valley National Bank

Arizona Bank

1845 E. McDowell

201 W. Indian School Rd

Former First National Bank #1